Fawlty Towers “Don’t mention the war” removed.

[boredtotears11]

Aibu to say I think that is a ridiculous decision by the BBC.Theyve removed it from its streaming service because of its “racist slurs”. It was a classic piece of comedy. I mean if they start picking apart old classic comedy how far are they going to go. Dads Army next?

@Roselilly36

It is getting totally out stupid I agree, I expect fools & horses will be next!

I notice they dont tend to show them on repeat anymore.. which is a shame

It’s a special memory isn’t it @FruitPastillesaregood? We had such a good time.

It must be hard when you have nostalgic memories associated with GWTW - however, that doesn’t make the portrayal of slavery in it any better for those of us who don't get warm feelings from it. Genuinely can you not see why it might be problematic?

How about nostalgic memories and a knowledge of the background issues as portrayed in a film?

Too complicated to process, maybe?

@Saucery

How about nostalgic memories and a knowledge of the background issues as portrayed in a film?

Too complicated to process, maybe?

The issue (this might be hard for you to understand Saucery) is that those issues were not portrayed in this film. It was sanitised.

@Saucery

How about nostalgic memories and a knowledge of the background issues as portrayed in a film?

Too complicated to process, maybe?

Exactly. Not too difficult for most people. And of course it was sanitised, it was a bit of 1940s froth.

So wait - was slavery portrayed in the film or not? If you really understand why the portrayal of slavery in GWTW is false then why would you object to a caveat at the beginning of the film? Same with the glorifying of the KKK.

I’d suggest you don’t understand as well as you pretend to.

A society without humour
Say no more.

@Oneearringlost

A society without humour Say no more.

The fuss over this was absolutely stupid.

It was made clear that the episode was being temporarily removed while a review was conducted to see if they should cut/beep the racial slurs, or just put a warning/disclaimer at the start of the episode.

How anyone can have a problem with that I dont know.

Please say more. Please say why no longer accepting racism means the end of humour. I promise it’s not true - there’s absolutely loads of British humour that doesn’t need to punch down to appeal to bigots for laughs.

Honestly, we are so much better than this. A lot of you can’t even defend the programmes and films you’re so outraged are being removed from Netflix - at least be honest and say it’s because you don’t give shit about racism, rather than trying to pretend it’s not there to begin with.

Pumper, I got it, lovely. Even as a child, I Got. It.
I never saw GWTW as a searingly honest portrayal of the time. Just like The Sound Of Music, Oliver!, The Railway Children etc etc .....ooh, that reminds me, The King And I too.
Or Ben Hur, or Jesus Of Nazareth or any of the old films. I had a primary school teacher in the 70s who took apart, nay eviscerated Westerns to a class of 10 year olds ffs. We get Context, we, really, really do.

@Pumperthepumper

Please say more. Please say why no longer accepting racism means the end of humour. I promise it’s not true - there’s absolutely loads of British humour that doesn’t need to punch down to appeal to bigots for laughs.

Honestly, we are so much better than this. A lot of you can’t even defend the programmes and films you’re so outraged are being removed from Netflix - at least be honest and say it’s because you don’t give shit about racism, rather than trying to pretend it’s not there to begin with.

I don’t need to defend them. To anyone with half a brain the concept of ‘they were of their time’ is enough.

@Saucery

[quote Pumperthepumper]
Please say more. Please say why no longer accepting racism means the end of humour. I promise it’s not true - there’s absolutely loads of British humour that doesn’t need to punch down to appeal to bigots for laughs.

Honestly, we are so much better than this. A lot of you can’t even defend the programmes and films you’re so outraged are being removed from Netflix - at least be honest and say it’s because you don’t give shit about racism, rather than trying to pretend it’s not there to begin with.

I don’t need to defend them.
To anyone with half a brain the concept of ‘they were of their time’ is enough.[/quote]
It isn’t though - a lot of people on this thread are complaining of the very idea of having a ‘mealy mouthed’ introduction to GWTW. You yourself suggested that it ‘portrayed background issues’ - which it doesn’t. So why the sniping? Why the need to belittle the people to whom this is actually an important step? The issue, again, with GWTW is that it wasn’t of its time - it’s an imagined idea of how slaves welcomed slavery. It was bullshit then and it’s bullshit now - so why the hostility to change?

Of its time, not of the time. I don’t know why you are labouring this point. Most Hollywood epics are a load of absolute rose-tinted bollocks and GWTW is no exception. It doesn’t hold a special place in my heart at all. Might have seen it while snuggled up to my granny on a Sunday afternoon, can’t actually distinguish it from all the other films like that, or wrestling, for that matter.
My point is they are are from a specific era. If you can’t see it as that then that’s a shame.

@Saucery

Of its time, not of the time. I don’t know why you are labouring this point. Most Hollywood epics are a load of absolute rose-tinted bollocks and GWTW is no exception. It doesn’t hold a special place in my heart at all. Might have seen it while snuggled up to my granny on a Sunday afternoon, can’t actually distinguish it from all the other films like that, or wrestling, for that matter. My point is they are are from a specific era. If you can’t see it as that then that’s a shame.

Saucery, I’m not saying the same thing over and over again while you labour over semantics. It was neither of its time or of the time - it was a false portrayal of slavery and the KKK. So, why the hostility towards pointing that out at the beginning of the film?

I don’t mind a caveat at the beginning of a film to point that out. Where have I said I do?
And it was, as a sanitised Hollywood epic, of its time. Which is an awfully long time ago, so that disclaimer is probably a good idea.
I’m currently plodding through The Crown and googling stuff that looks out of place. It’s not difficult to separate fact from fiction with all the internet at our disposal, after all. No one needs to watch anything from them there Olden Times and remain in ignorance, do they?

@Saucery

I don’t mind a caveat at the beginning of a film to point that out. Where have I said I do? And it was, as a sanitised Hollywood epic, of its time. Which is an awfully long time ago, so that disclaimer is probably a good idea. I’m currently plodding through The Crown and googling stuff that looks out of place. It’s not difficult to separate fact from fiction with all the internet at our disposal, after all. No one needs to watch anything from them there Olden Times and remain in ignorance, do they?

So why do you think people are arguing against it? Why the need to have jibe at people ‘with half a brain’ and so on? It must be lovey to have this stuff as an academic exercise on Internet forums, but for a lot of us, this is important. Be an ally!

But it’s not an academic exercise to me! Like I said, I had a primary school teacher who took apart the Western mythology in front of 30 10 yr olds. In a bog standard Northern faith school. Critiquing popular culture and showing the other side to it isn’t something new. Don’t most people watch things with an eye on the context, especially the older stuff? I mean, this wasn’t some fancy psychological experiment, this really was mainstream.

@Saucery

But it’s not an academic exercise to me! Like I said, I had a primary school teacher who took apart the Western mythology in front of 30 10 yr olds. In a bog standard Northern faith school. Critiquing popular culture and showing the other side to it isn’t something new. Don’t most people watch things with an eye on the context, especially the older stuff? I mean, this wasn’t some fancy psychological experiment, this really was mainstream.

No, most people don’t - loads of people are outraged by the idea that Little Britain is racist. Loads and loads and loads of people haven’t had the benefit of your education.

Loads of people, for example, think this is the start of a ‘society without humour’.

Fucking hell, using the word retard and arguing about ignorance is pretty ironic!

Okay, yes I agree. I’ve asked for it to be taken down.

Pumper my education was not anything special. It had an awful lot of God in it, for one thing. Many, many lessons sat in Church and I draw a mean Angel thanks to it. Apart from that we were taught to think for ourselves. Which comes in handy 50 years later, I suppose.